[Cal4D4]

Thursday, June 12, 2003

Muslim group tried to extort money, Hawthorne man says

A Hawthorne businessman says an imam representing a black Muslim mosque in Los Angeles recently barged into his used car dealership with six bodyguards dressed in camouflage and demanded he give them $1.3 million.

“They said, ‘Now it’s time to pay back the black people what you’ve taken from them,’ ”...

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/news/nmmuslims12.html

Peaceful, loving religion?

[Yanus]

Really weird..........

Try that stunt here in Texas and the "imam" would be room temperature in about 5 seconds....

[Thumper]

No kidding...well, maybe not that fast, but definitely in the "cooling" process.

Idjits.

[Thumper]

Two of Harb’s employees said the group arrived in a Lincoln Town Car that pulled off Hawthorne Boulevard and blocked the driveway. A man in black robes and a long beard entered the business. Two rows of three men in military-style fatigues stood at attention on each side of him as he asked for the manager.


The imam presented his card and addressed Harb. “He said, ‘This is a project. We support Muslim groups inside and outside the United States and we are looking for $1.3 million and we have to have this money in two days,’ ” Harb said.

:fire:

When a police officer arrived, two of the imam’s bodyguards stepped in front of him, refusing to allow him to speak to the imam and yelling, “Nobody can make us do anything. No one can make us leave,” Harb said.
“The cop, he did back off,” Harb said. “He didn’t know what to do.” Police did not release the officer’s name.

Double :fire:

[one-shot-one]

:fire:
just in case any are reading this;
if anyone of any race or creed or "religion" ever tries to "strong arm money from me i will fear for my life and respond to your request as such. you have been warned. it is time to stop letting the lowest common denominator choose how things are done!
:fire:

[Mark Tyson]

I can't believe they forced a cop to back down!

[Norm357]

***? If that happened here the officer may have backed down, but only to call for backup. Possible extortion my a**!!! Please keep us updated on this situation as I am curious as to how the LAPD and DA's office is going to handle this.
Norm

[BigG]

Sounds like the imam has been studying Rev. Jesse Blabbermouth's playbook. :rolleyes: :evil:

[Big_R]

Look at it this way; if the cop had used force, he probably would have been charged with a hate crime. You can't pick on a poor defenseless Muslim.

The thing that makes me angry about this is that the owner of the dealership (and obviously the employees) had absolutely no way to defend themselves other than call the police. I can imagine how things would have gone had the suspects produced weapons. One cop against 5 people who probably want to kill you. Not good odds.

The story doesn't say, but was backup on the way? If I was a cop and saw that many people as possible agressors, I don't think I would have gotten out of the car without calling for help.

Ryan

[Marko Kloos]

That guy is as much a Muslim as Jim and Tammy Faye are Christians. He's just a thug and a thief, and he's merely found a new angle to play.


Peaceful, loving religion?

This has nothing to do with religion. Anyone can open a church or a mosque and call themselves "Reverend" or "Imam". The guy is a simple con artist, nothing more. If y'all want to use this thread to elaborate on how this is evidence of the evil nature of Islam, I'll close it faster than you can blink.
Capisce?

[DaveB]

If y'all want to use this thread to elaborate on how this is evidence of the evil nature of Islam, I'll close it faster than you can blink.

lendringser, that's the funniest thing I've read here in awhile.

Bravo.

db

[Mark Tyson]

The article says that the officer did not call for backup. Unbelievable.

Oh, and by the way:

You don't need high capacity "assault weapons" for protection from multiple attackers. The police will protect you.

[rock jock]

Weird story. For an extortion ring, these guys weren't too sharp. Did they really think they could get away with this? OTOH, we're talking Kalifornia so maybe they thought they were exempt from the law.

[Master Blaster]

The rest:

It sounds like a threat and extortion to me with a police witness to boot, and they are doing nothing about it???!!!!!


Harb and an employee said the officer appeared to be intimidated and scared. He made no arrests and did not call for backup, but did force the men to leave.


As they returned to their car, they yelled, “You are going to pay back to the community. You make money from the black people so you need to pay back money to the black people,” Harb said.


“These people left telling the cops, telling my employees, they will be back,” Harb said. “They said we are going to give you 15 days to raise up the money because this is too much . . .”


Three of Harb’s employees quit because they did not believe it was safe to return, Harb said.


“It was scary,” said another employee who stayed.


Spokespeople for the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Anti-Defamation League said they had not heard of the imam and his Masjid al-Rasul.


A March 1994 article in Emerge

magazine, which caters to a black readership, described Abdul-Karim as a former member of the Black Panthers, a 1960s militant organization. He began studying Islam when the organization folded.


“Islam was our religion when we were kidnapped from Africa,” Abdul-Karim told the magazine. “It fills in the blanks of African-American history for our people.”


Abdul-Karim, 57, told the magazine he converted to Islam in 1978 because he was tired of his life of partying and having a good time.


He spread his word to residents in South Los Angeles neighborhoods and was a key player in a truce among Crips and Bloods gang members in Watts housing projects in 1993, the article said.


“I wanted to raise their political awareness and their awareness of self in regard to their African-American history,” he said, adding that Islam’s militant form of self-defense got their attention.


“Self-defense is an integral part of the Islamic religion,” he said. “Whereas Christianity teaches people to be subservient even if being attacked, Allah said Muslims must defend themselves when attacked, though they are never to be the aggressor.”


Police said they had not heard of other incidents similar to Harb’s and were looking into it.


Harb, who is Muslim and from Lebanon, said he does not know why he was targeted, but said the imam told him he was “on the list.”


“People need to know about this group,” Harb said. “These people are criminals. They are not religious people.”


Publish Date:June 12, 2003

[BigG]

All they got to do is nip over to LA and hire a couple of those first generation Korean small business persons. They will make short work of the extortionist rabble. ;)

[Boats]

Abdul-Karim, 57, told the magazine he converted to Islam in 1978 because he was tired of his life of partying and having a good time.

Yep, gettin' religion is a surefire way to quit havin' a good time.:D

[MrAcheson]

Anyone can open a church or a mosque and call themselves "Reverend" or "Imam".

No. By law you cannot ordain yourself as a minister. However there are churches who will do this to anyone for a fee, which is pretty close to the same thing.

[dustind]

You can even do it online, two of my friends did it, i may do it for the tax break.

[Cal4D4]

Quoting lendringser...
"This has nothing to do with religion."

Not saying anything against pure Moslem faith, don't know enough about it to comment. I do have first hand knowledge of Black Muslim groups trying to intimidate people for money. Very common in college dorms and campuses during the early '70s (Cal State Univ at Long Beach and off campus dorms is my experience first hand). They also would try to find vulnerable coeds while going door to door. Couple of incidents where girls were held at knife point led to armed people staying over with girlfriends. Cops ended up getting involved.

Defend them or close the thread as you wish, these tactics are old hat with this group.

[LawDog]

These people are just as much Moslem as Branch Davidians were
Christians. And Abdul-Karim is as much an imam as Jimmy "Kool-Aid" Jones was a prophet.

“Islam was our religion when we were kidnapped from Africa,”

*snort* Islam, doubtful; pagan animism, probably. If the old boy truly wants to get into touch with his religious roots, I would suggest Houndoun or Voudoo - both words corruptions of the West African word ju-ju or jou-jou, a blanket term for the supernatural.

It's one of my particular hates when critters start hiding behind religion to screen their sociopathic little activities. Gives everybody a bad name.

LawDog

[rrader]

If y'all want to use this thread to elaborate on how this is evidence of the evil nature of Islam, I'll close it faster than you can blink.

These folks in the Nation of Islam have nothing to do with Islam. NOI is a cult founded on UFO mythology and is completely rejected by Koranic-based Muslims.

If you want to get a idea of the evil nature of these people and the Nation of Islam do a Google search on the Zodiac Killings (which are still continuing to this day IMO given Malvo and Muhammad).

[Pilgrim]

Abdul-Karim, 57, told the magazine he converted to Islam in 1978 because he was tired of his life of partying and having a good time.

He probably learned his hustle while attending my alma mater, Dorsey High School, in 1962-65. Only then he would have been shaking down kids for their lunch money.

Pilgrim

[El Tejon]

Maybe Iman Numbnuts should have gone on television and said Allah was calling him to paradise unless toothless, uneducated people sent money to him?:D Works for others. :rolleyes:

[one-shot-one]

so El Tejon:

are you equating what "televanglists" do with someone walking into you place of business with 6 body gaurds and DEMANDING money.

[BigG]

I would say the telly evangelists are a little more soft sell...

[Ledbetter]

except for Benny Hinn (special place in hell for him for extorting money from the sick).

Oh, and that room temperature thing in Texas? You only have to cool off a degree or two to BE room temperature most of the year.

[SodaPop]

Anyone can open a church or a mosque and call themselves "Reverend" or "Imam". The guy is a simple con artist, nothing more.

As I drive threw Philadelphia doing my routes, I see the transition from "The First (fill in the blank) Church of (fill in the blank) to the "Nation of (fill in the blank) Mosque." I'm always curious to know how many girlfriends these Imams and Reverands have in their congregations.;)

Islam for many in the black community has just been a vehicle of anti-white hatred. Remember, these people killed Malcolm X when he got a different view on race relations.

NOI is a cult founded on UFO mythology and is completely rejected by Koranic-based Muslims.

That is partially true.

"Koranic-based Muslims" is kind of a broad term.

Nation of Islam leaders have been welcomed by several terrorist states. Some of them could be considered "Koran based Moslems." Old Lou Farrakan has down the whole Middle-east world tour twice.

I would consider any member of the nation of islam to be part of a terrorist organization. One of the DC Bushmaster terrorists was a member of the nation of islam.

[Mark Tyson]

I wouldn't go so far as to call NOI a terrorist group, but maybe a borderline hate group. They have some strange ideas.

[El Tejon]

one-shot-one, yes, of course. Different parts of the same fraud statute.

[one-shot-one]

i don't know but it seems to me that someone "asking" for money even if (and i use the word if loosely) by fraud is a far cry from the stronge arm tactics the thread started on.
the crooks on tv are bad for christianty, but i have yet to hear anyone from the islamic faith that did not have an ax to grind with the rest of us infidels.

[El Tejon]

one, yeah, but give me money or Yahweh will smite me falls toward the criminal spectrum, IMHO. However, all kinds of crimes have been committed in the name of a higher power (or for the children).:scrutiny:

[one-shot-one]

el:
guess we have to agree to disagree.
to say, give me money or god will smite "YOU" might be close to what these guys did but extortion (sp?) by television simply does not effect me like a face to face would.